Seo-Young Chu

An absolutely brilliant examination of the poetics of Science Fiction, but it has one major flaw, as I see it: a work very much like this already exists, and the author doesn't cite it at all (most likely because the work is out of print, but still...): The Known and the Unknown: The Iconography of Science Fiction by Gary K. Wolfe (1979). I have to say, too, that I am not so sure that we can divorce science fiction structure from the allegorical worlds that the cognitive estrangement that structure creates. Chu makes his case extremely thoroughly, though, so this may just be a personal prejudice of mine. I found chapter 5, "Robot Rights," particularly insightful, and I wish it had existed when I wrote my dissertation. Overall? Recommended, especially chapter 5 if you are an instructor designing a course on science fiction.… (mehr)